Tinnitus

[corky007]

Dear Doctor, last October I had a C4/5 and C5/6 cervical foraminotomies which by all account was sucessful, although I still have numbness in my right wrist and thumb, some nearly 10 months later. The real problem that I have is the moment I woke from the operation I am suffering  the most insane tinnitus, a condition I had not even heard of before then. I am being treated by a Tinnitus specialist, but nothing is working for me. When I woke from the operation, I had the worst pain from where my head was clamped, infact the flesh had been broken as scabs formed over the coming days.  My question to you with respect, could  the audiology part of the brain suffered some form of presure from the clamps and that this has caused Tinnitus, if so should I be concerned and ask the Tinnitus specialist for an MRI scan to maybe check for a Vestibular Schwannoma. Many thanks in advance for your help,

[corky007]

Hi, Thanks for your advice, I have been examined by an ENT specialist and he has ruled out any ear infections etc.  I am not sure about the "PTS" as I said earlier, I literally just woke up with this insane noise in my head straight after the operation,

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
While any trauma to brain matter can precipitate tinnitus, especially if the area related to hearing and frontal lobe is affected, even post traumatic stress injury could be a cause for tinnitus. Hence a neuro-psychiatry consult is needed to rule this out.
Other possible causes of tinnitus have their origin in either your ear (Ménière's disease, otosclerosis, middle ear infections,   wax in your ear canal and TMJ), or auditory nerve (which carries signals from your inner ear to your brain like acoustic neuroma), and side-effects of medicines (aspirin, quinine, some antibiotics etc).
Please consult your ENT for primary examination followed by neuro-psychiatry consult.
Take care!